Newport News cartographer maps fictional island from 'Lost' television series

Of all the passions in his life, two have overtaken Jonah Adkins in recent years: Maps and the television series " Lost."

The Newport News cartographer earns his living charting out territory for the Army, but he's found a way to make money on his extracurricular obsession, too.

In fact, Jonah combined his love for maps with his lust for "Lost" in a project that yielded realistic geographical surveys of the fictional island featured in the television series.

But Jonah isn't the only "Lostie" who wanted a visual representation of the island that captured his attention for six seasons. More than 200 people have paid between $9 and $100 for his maps, depending on the size, and fan lore says that one even hangs in a show producer's office.

But it's not surprising that the television series prompted such a fanatic response in Adkins. The show, which incorporates elements that are both fantastical and supernatural, developed a dedicated cult following that spawned online games, message boards and artistic expressions that continue to rile fans months after the show's finale.

Based primarily on a tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific, the ABC show follows the lives (and past lives, future lives and lives in limbo) of an unusually large cast that was left stranded after a plane crash. Mysterious entities such as the Smoke Monster and The Others clash with the survivors as they struggle to understand their eerily close connections with each other.

But it's really the detailed subplots and gradual unfolding of clues that keep true "Lost" fans chatting for hours. The show's theme and underlying meaning is hotly debated even 3 months after the finale's air date.

As for Jonah, he admits that he spent hours on the computer discussing the finer points of the story with fellow fans.

"We definitely had a kibosh of all interaction with the kids and wife when the show was on," Jonah's wife, Leeann, laughs.

But it was that dedication to detail that allowed Jonah to create his maps of the island.

"I always wondered why the characters weren't walking around taking a survey of their surroundings," Jonah says. "Then when the online mystery game 'The Lost Experience' began to have geographic clues, I started thinking about mapping it out more seriously."

His first stab at it began after the second season ended in 2006. That map includes a timeline, which Jonah admits became irrelevant as the series continued.

"After the second season, there weren't a lot of details out there yet," he says. "I think it served the fan community, but on the later map I tried to stick to the major plot points that you could actually map."

But even that took hours of study.

So little is revealed about the island that fans have to look for subtle clues to unravel the web of mystery. In one episode, for example, the main characters are clearly stationed on the Survivor's Beach Camp, which fans know is located on the southwest tip of the island. By watching the characters sail up the coast and taking note of the sun's position, Jonah was able to deduce the location of the Four Toed Foot, a statue that served as the backdrop for several main plot points.

As for the general shape of the island, diehard fans will recognize a similarity to Oahu, where the show was filmed.

To estimate scale, Jonah paid close attention to the script. If someone said it took them a day to walk from one place to another, he plotted it out. Sometimes it worked out logically, he says, other times it didn't.

He also points out the location of Henry Gale's hot air balloon. Set in the first half of the second season, the importance of the Gale narrative was one of the most intense debates among fans. The subplot, which spanned a period of at least five weeks, followed the survivors as they exposed the man claiming to be Henry Gale as an imposter.

In the end, Jonah says, the side story bore little weight on the show's conclusion. But, as with most things related to "Lost," it's the experience of the debate that makes it significant.

Jonah finished his final map in June and though detailed, and seemingly accurate, it has not been officially accepted by ABC or the show's producers. But it has gained the attention of media outlets worldwide, including Popwatch and the New York Post. More recently, European fans are taking notice, as the show series is still in its final stages. Jonah was particularly excited to see that a French magazine had published a story about his map.

"I can't imagine ever doing something like this again," he says. "I wasn't planning to sell it at first, but when it was posted online, it got 80,000 hits in two days. I got a lot of requests to sell it. I'm still shipping out about 10 a week."

And Jonah's passion for the show hasn't waned much, either. He and a buddy traveled to Washington, D.C. to pick up limited edition candy bars from the show, and he admits that it's still hard to pass up a "Lost" T-shirt when he sees one.

But for wife Leeann, it's perfectly fine that the show has run its course.

"I think it's really great that Jonah can combine his talents with something that he is interested in," she says, smiling. "But I never could get into the show. I'm more of a 'Project Runway,''Ugly Betty' girl."

More online

Find Adkin's "Lost" map and links to his blog about "Lost" on dailypress.com.

News to use

The sixth and final season of "Lost" will be released on DVD on Tuesday, Aug. 24.